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20 Integrating the People Connections Service

The People Connections service provides social networking tools for use in enhancing connection and communication within a project team and throughout an enterprise. It does this through a set of features that include:

Activity Stream for viewing user activities generated through application or social networking actions.

Connections for connecting to other application users to share information, comment on performance, exchange messages, and track activity

Feedback for giving ad hoc performance feedback to other users

Message Board for posting messages to other users

Profile for entering personal contact information and viewing the contact information of other users

This chapter explains how to integrate the People Connections service with a custom WebCenter application and provides information about the REST APIs available for use in connecting to the People Connections service from outside the application framework.

20.1 Introduction to the People Connections Service

The People Connections service provides social networking tools for creating, interacting with, and tracking the activities of one's enterprise connections. Its features enable users to manage their personal profiles, access the profiles of other users, provide ad hoc feedback, post messages, track activities, and connect with others.

In a production environment, an enterprise can leverage its back-end identity store as a means of providing People Connections with a population of potential connections. In a development environment, developers can add test-users to the jazn-data.xml file.

20.1.1 Understanding the People Connections Service

The features of the People Connections service fall into five categories. Each category includes a set of task flows that expose People Connections features to your end users. The section introduces the five People Connections categories. It contains the following subsections:

Activity Stream compares somewhat to the Recent Activities service, which also tracks and reports on application activities (for more information, see Section 25, "Integrating the Recent Activities Service"). Both track the application activities of integrated services, though Activity Stream tracks a broader range of services. For example, Recent Activities tracks the Documents, Announcements, Discussions, and Page services. Activity Stream tracks these services as well as People Connections and Wikis and Blogs. Recent Activities tracks activities no matter who performs the action. Activity Stream tracks activities performed by a user's connections and includes information about who performed the activity. Recent Activities does not include names.

The basic difference between these two services can be summarized as follows: Recent Activities provides an overview of what is happening in an application. Activity Stream provides an overview of what is happening with a user's connections.

20.1.1.2 Connections

Connections provides users with a means of managing their own connections and viewing the connections of others. Use Connections to collect business friends and contacts into one or more smaller social groups. Use connections lists to manage the display of your connections.

20.1.1.3 Feedback

Feedback provides users with a means of viewing, posting, and managing feedback. By default, users can view feedback in their own Feedback views. Users can view and post feedback in other users' Feedback views.

20.1.1.5 Profile

Profile provides users with a variety of views into their own and other users' personal profile information. Such information can include a user's email address, phone number, office location, department, manager, direct reports, and so on. Profile takes the bulk of its information from the back-end identity store that provides your WebCenter application with its users. Additionally, Profile may offer opportunities for altering some of this information and for providing additional data not included in the identity store.

20.2.1 How to Set Up a Database Connection for the People Connections Service

The People Connections service requires a connection to a database that has the WebCenter schema installed. The script to create the WebCenter schema is included with the product. This section assumes you have installed the WebCenter schema and have created a JSF (.jspx) page in your WebCenter application.

Right-click Connections, then select New Connection and then Database to open the Create Database Connection dialog (Figure 20-1).

Figure 20-1 Create Database Connection Dialog

Enter the following information for your database connection:

Connection Name: WebCenter

Connection Type: Oracle (JDBC)

Username:username (a user with established access to the database)

Password: password (the specified user's password)

Host Name: <host where you will install the WebCenter schema> (for example, localhost)

JDBC Port:<port> (for example, 1521)

SID: <system identifier for the database with the same JDBC port> (for example, ORCL)

You must enter the Connection Name exactly as WebCenter.

Note:

There are cases when you may want to leverage an existing database connection for WebCenter services, and it may not be possible to change the database connection name to WebCenter. To enable WebCenter services to use a database connection with a name other than WebCenter, you must add the following <data-source> tag as a child of the <wpsC:adf-service-config> element in the adf-config.xml file. (adf-service-config is a child of adf-config, and data-source is a child of adf-service-config or a sibling of extension-registry-config.)

20.2.2.1.1 Activity Stream Task Flows

Two Activity Stream task flows are available through the Resource Palette:

Activity Stream—Provides users with the main view of the most recent activities of their connections (Figure 20-2).

Figure 20-2 Activity Stream Task Flow

Activity Stream - Quick View—Provides users with a truncated view of streamed activities, where only the most recent of their connections' activities are shown. Users who want to see all activities can click a More link to navigate to the main view (Activity Stream) of the task flow (Figure 20-3).

Figure 20-3 Activity Stream - Quick View Task Flow

20.2.2.1.2 Connections Task Flows

Three Connections task flows are available through the Resource Palette:

Connections—Provides users with a means of viewing and managing their connections, creating connections lists, and sending and responding to invitations to connect (Figure 20-4).

Connections - Quick View—Provides users with a view of their connections' uploaded profile photos and a link to instant contact options (Figure 20-6).

Figure 20-6 Connections - Quick View Task Flow

20.2.2.1.3 Feedback Task Flows

Two Feedback task flows are available through the Resource Palette:

Feedback—Provides users with the main view of the Feedback task flow. The main view contains controls for viewing, posting, sorting, and filtering Feedback—both given and received—and for hiding received Feedback (Figure 20-7).

Figure 20-7 Feedback Task Flow

Feedback - Quick View—Provides users with a truncated view of the Feedback task flow, where only the most recent posts are shown. When there are more posts than can be displayed in the initial view, users can click a More link to navigate to the main view of the Feedback task flow. When user A accesses user B's view of Feedback - Quick View, user A additionally sees an Add Feedback option (Figure 20-8).

Figure 20-8 Feedback - Quick View Task Flow

20.2.2.1.4 Message Board Task Flows

Two Message Board task flows are available through the Resource Palette:

Message Board - Quick View—Provides users with a truncated view of Message Board messages and a means of adding and viewing such messages. Users can click a More link to navigate to the Detailed View (Figure 20-10).

Figure 20-10 Message Board - Quick View Task Flow

20.2.2.1.5 Profile Task Flows

Three Profile task flow are available through the Resource Palette:

Profile—Exposes a user's profile details, such as a user's email address, phone number, office location, department, manager, direct reports, and so on. It also exposes any personal image a user may have provided and the user's personal status message (Figure 20-11).

Figure 20-11 Profile Task Flow

Profile - Snapshot—Exposes any personal image a user may have uploaded and provides an Edit link for entering a personal status message (Figure 20-12).

For example, for Connections - Quick View, the parameter userid represents the name of the current user at runtime. You can specify an EL expression for the parameter that will evaluate to the currently logged-in user. For example, for userid, enter #{securityContext.userName}. For more information, see Section 20.3.2.2, "People Connections Task Flow Binding Parameters."

Click OK.

The task flow is added to the page, and the ViewController project's libraries are configured to run the task flow.

Save and run your page to the browser.

Note:

To enable users to upload anything to your ADF-based application at runtime, the page on which you have placed the task flow must have the usesUpload attribute set on the form. For example, to enable the upload of a document to the document library or a photo to a profile, add the following to the relevant page:

20.2.3 Setting Security for the People Connections Service

Because People Connections features are centered around users, application security must be set up for successful use of the service. Ideally, test users are also in place to enable you to interact in a meaningful way with each feature. Each feature in the People Connections service can be secured separately.

20.3.1 Establishing Site-Level Settings for People Connections Features

Two scripts are available to configure and revise People Connections site-level settings:

RCUHOME/rcu/integration/webcenter/sql/oracle/settings-insert.sql

RCUHOME/rcu/integration/webcenter/sql/oracle/settings-update.sql

The variable RCUHOME refers to your install location of the Resource Creation Utility (RCU). The RCU may be used in setting up the WebCenter schema and is packaged with the Oracle JDeveloper ship home. RCUHOME is the root folder where the RCU is installed.

This section describes the scripts and provides information about the types of settings they control. It contains the following subsections:

All site-level settings for People Connections features are stored in the WebCenter schema table WC_PPL_COMMON_SETTING. Out-of-the-box, this table does not contain any setting values. In the absence of values, the application assumes default values. To change the value of any setting, the setting must first be inserted into this table and then updated with the desired value. Two SQL scripts enable you to perform these steps in their proper sequence.

This section describes how to prepare and run the People Connections site-level settings scripts. It contains the following subsections:

20.3.1.1.1 Preparing and Running settings-insert.sql

Before you can change People Connections site-level settings, you must run the settings-insert.sql script once. The script has INSERT statements for all supported settings. All INSERT statements are commented out by default. Before you run the script, you must prepare it by uncommenting all the settings you plan to change.

For the settings you plan to change, uncomment the corresponding INSERT statement.

Tip:

To uncomment an INSERT statement, remove the leading double dash (--) on the lines the statement spans.

Once you have uncommented all the INSERT statements for the settings of interest, save and run the script.

The uncommented settings are populated with default values.

Note:

You can run the settings-insert.sql script only once for a given set of settings on a given schema. If you must run it more than once—for example, if you must update a different set of settings—then the previously uncommented INSERT statements must be commented before you can run the script again. Otherwise, a SQL error is thrown during the re-execution of the INSERT statement.

20.3.1.1.2 Preparing and Running settings-update.sql

To change People Connections site-level settings, you must run the settings-update.sql script after you run settings-insert.sql once. The settings-update.sql script has UPDATE statements for all supported settings. All UPDATE statements are commented out by default.

You can run the settings-update.sql script as many times as required for a given set of settings on a given schema, provided you have run settings-insert.sql once for those settings.

20.3.1.2.1 Activity Stream Site-Level Settings

Table 20-2 lists and describes the site-level settings for the People Connections service Activity Stream feature.

The service ID for Activity Stream is oracle.webcenter.activitystreaming. For a list of service IDs, see Table 20-3.

Table 20-2 Site-Level Settings for Activity Stream

Setting Key

Description

Valid Site-Level Values

accesscontrol.value.accessControlLevel

For determining who can view a user's Activity Stream

SELF, CONNECTIONS, USERS (that is, authenticated users), PUBLIC

accesscontrol.endUserConfigurable

For indicating whether individual users can override in their own application views the application-level setting for who can view their Activity Stream

This setting is honored only when the application exposes the override control in a user preferences screen.

+, -

+=TRUE

-=FALSE

connectionsActivities.value

For specifying the users for which to show personal space activities in a user's Activity Stream

Users can override this setting on a task flow instance.

NONE, ALL

NONE=No Personal Space activities are shown.

ALL=Personal Space activities of all the user's connections are shown.

groupSpaceActivities.value

For specifying the group spaces for which to show activities in a user's Activity Stream

Users can override this setting on a task flow instance.

GSNONE, GSALL, GSSELECTED

GSNONE=No group space activities are shown

GSALL=Activities are shown for all of the group spaces of which the user is a member and on which the user has view access.

GSSELECTED=Activities are shown for a predefined list of group spaces of which the user is a member and on which the current user has view access. The predefined list is specified through the setting groupSpaceActivities.groupSpaceGuids.

groupSpaceActivities.groupSpaceGuids

For providing the GUIDs of the group spaces for which to show activities in a user's Activity Stream

This setting is honored only when the value of 'groupSpaceActivities.value is GSSELECTED.

Users can override this setting on a task flow instance.

LIST: followed by a comma-separated list of group space GUIDs without any spaces in-between.

For example:

LIST:sbba12345xyz1,sabcd54321abc

Up to 100 group space GUIDs can be specified in this fashion.

servicePublishedSettings[serviceId]

For indicating whether to show activities published by the WebCenter service serviceId in a user's Activity StreamA serviceId is the WebCenter service ID of any service that publishes activities. For a list of service IDs, see Table 20-3.

For example:

servicePublishedSettings[oracle.webcenter.community]

Users can override this setting on a task flow instance.

+, -

+=TRUE

-=FALSE

Table 20-3 Service IDs

Service

ID

Announcements

oracle.webcenter.collab.announcement

Discussions

oracle.webcenter.collab.forum

Documents

oracle.webcenter.doclib

Events

oracle.webcenter.collab.calendar.community

Group Space Management

oracle.webcenter.community

Instant Messaging and Presence (IMP)

oracle.webcenter.collab.rtc

Links

oracle.webcenter.relationship

Lists

oracle.webcenter.list

Mail

oracle.webcenter.collab.mail

Notes

oracle.webcenter.note

Page

oracle.webcenter.page

People Connections: Activity Stream

oracle.webcenter.activitystreaming

People Connections: Connections

oracle.webcenter.peopleconnections.connections

People Connections: Feedback

oracle.webcenter.peopleconnections.kudos

People Connections: Message Board

oracle.webcenter.peopleconnections.wall

People Connections: Profile

oracle.webcenter.peopleconnections.profile

Recent Activities

oracle.webcenter.recentactivity

RSS

oracle.webcenter.rss

Search

oracle.webcenter.search

Tags

oracle.webcenter.tagging

Wikis and Blogs

oracle.webcenter.wiki

Worklist

oracle.webcenter.worklist

20.3.1.2.2 Connections Site-Level Settings

Table 20-4 lists and describes the site-level settings for the People Connections service Connections feature.

The service ID for Connections is oracle.webcenter.peopleconnections.connections. For a list of service IDs, see Table 20-3.

Table 20-4 Site-Level Settings for Connections

Setting Key

Description

Valid Site-Level Values

autoAcceptInvitations

For specifying that connection invitations are accepted automatically by default

Individual users can override this application-level setting in their own view, provided the application exposes the override control in a user preferences screen.

+, -

+=TRUE

-=FALSE

connectionsVisibility.accessControlSettings.accessControlLevel

For specifying who can view a user's Connections

SELF, CONNECTIONS, USERS (that is, authenticated users), PUBLIC

connectionsVisibility.personalizable

For indicating whether individual users can override in their own application views the application-level setting for who can view their Connections

This setting is honored only when the application exposes the override control in a user preferences screen.

+, -

+=TRUE

-=FALSE

20.3.1.2.3 Feedback Site-Level Settings

Table 20-5 lists and describes the site-level settings for the People Connections service Feedback feature.

The service ID for Feedback is oracle.webcenter.peopleconnections.kudos. For a list of service IDs, see Table 20-3.

Table 20-5 Site-Level Settings for Feedback

Setting Key

Description

Valid Site-Level Values

visibility.accessControlSettings.accessControlLevel

For specifying who can view a user's received Feedback

SELF, CONNECTIONS, USERS (that is, authenticated users), PUBLIC

visibility.endUserConfigurable

For indicating whether individual users can override in their own application views the application-level setting for who can view their received Feedback

This setting is honored only when the application exposes the override control in a user preferences screen.

+, -

+=TRUE

-=FALSE

addControl.accessControlSettings.accessControlLevel

For specifying who can give Feedback to a user

SELF, CONNECTIONS, USERS (that is, authenticated users), PUBLIC

addControl.endUserConfigurable

For indicating whether individual users can override in their own application views the application-level setting for who can give them Feedback

This setting is honored only when the application exposes the override control in a user preferences screen.

+, -

+=TRUE

-=FALSE

miniViewRowCount.value

For specifying the number of Feedback entries to show in a Feedback - Quick View task flow

Positive integers

miniViewRowCount.endUserConfigurable

For indicating whether individual users can override in their own application views the application-level setting for the number of entries to show in a Feedback - Quick View task flow

This setting is honored only when the application exposes the override control in a user preferences screen.

+, -

+=TRUE

-=FALSE

postedUserActions.delete

For indicating whether users are allowed to delete the Feedback they leave for other users

+, -

+=TRUE

-=FALSE

20.3.1.2.4 Message Board Site-Level Settings

Table 20-6 lists and describes the site-level settings for the People Connections service Message Board feature.

The service ID for Message Board is oracle.webcenter.peopleconnections.wall. For a list of service IDs, see Table 20-6.

Table 20-6 Site-Level Settings For Message Board

Setting Key

Description

Valid Site-Level Values

visibility.accessControlSettings.accessControlLevel

For specifying who can view a user's Message Board

SELF, CONNECTIONS, USERS (that is, authenticated users), PUBLIC

visibility.endUserConfigurable

For indicating whether individual users can override in their own application views the application-level setting for who can view their Message Board

This setting is honored only when the application exposes the override control in a user preferences screen.

+, -

+=TRUE

-=FALSE

addControl.accessControlSettings.accessControlLevel

For specifying who can post to a user's Message Board

SELF, CONNECTIONS, USERS (that is, authenticated users), PUBLIC

addControl.endUserConfigurable

For indicating whether individual users can override in their own application views the application-level setting for who can post to their Message Board

This setting is honored only when the application exposes the override control in a user preferences screen.

+, -

+=TRUE

-=FALSE

miniViewRowCount.value

For specifying the number of messages to show in a Message Board - Quick View task flow

Positive integer

miniViewRowCount.endUserConfigurable

For indicating whether individual users can override in their own application views the application-level setting for the number of messages to show in a Message Board - Quick View task flow

This setting is honored only when the application exposes the override control in a user preferences screen.

+, -

+=TRUE

-=FALSE

postedUserActions.edit

For indicating whether users are allowed to edit the messages they post on other users' Message Boards

+, -

+=TRUE

-=FALSE

postedUserActions.delete

For indicating whether users are allowed to delete messages they post on other users' Message Boards

+, -

+=TRUE

-=FALSE

20.3.1.2.5 Profile Site-Level Settings

Table 20-7 lists and describes the site-level settings for the People Connections service Profile feature.

The service ID for Profile is oracle.webcenter.peopleconnections.profile. For a list of service IDs, see Table 20-3.

Table 20-7 Site-Level Settings for Profile

Setting Key

Description

Valid Site-Level Values

general-profile-settings.logActivity

For indicating whether profile updates, such as uploading a photo, updating personal status, changing profile attributes, should result in activities getting published in Activity Stream

true, false

general-profile-settings.prersonalWebVisibility

For specifying who can view a user's Profile Gallery

SELF, CONNECTIONS, USERS (that is, authenticated users), PUBLIC

general-profile-settings.pwVisibilityPersonalizable

For indicating whether individual users can override in their own views the application-level setting for who can view their Profile Gallery

This setting is honored only when the application exposes the override control in a user preferences screen.

By default, when users send invitations to connect, recipients must explicitly accept them. Through site-level settings, the application administrator can configure the application to accept invitations automatically. This setting is identified by the key, autoAcceptInvitations, and the service ID, oracle.webcenter.peopleconnections.connections. To change the setting, the administrator performs the following steps:

Open the settings-insert.sql script and uncomment the following lines:

Open the settings-update.sql script and uncomment the following lines:

-- UPDATE WC_PPL_COMMON_SETTING SET SETTING_VALUE='-'
-- WHERE APPLICATION_ID='webcenter' AND SCOPE_ID='defaultScope' AND USER_ID='SYSTEM' AND TASKFLOW_INST_ID='SITE'
-- AND SERVICE_ID='oracle.webcenter.peopleconnections.connections' AND SETTING_KEY='autoAcceptInvitations'
-- ;

After the modification, the lines appear as follows:

UPDATE WC_PPL_COMMON_SETTING SET SETTING_VALUE='-'
WHERE APPLICATION_ID='webcenter' AND SCOPE_ID='defaultScope' AND USER_ID='SYSTEM' AND TASKFLOW_INST_ID='SITE'
AND SERVICE_ID='oracle.webcenter.peopleconnections.connections' AND SETTING_KEY='autoAcceptInvitations'
;

Change the value of SETTING_VALUE to a plus sign (+).

After modification, the lines appear as follows:

UPDATE WC_PPL_COMMON_SETTING SET SETTING_VALUE='+'
WHERE APPLICATION_ID='webcenter' AND SCOPE_ID='defaultScope' AND USER_ID='SYSTEM' AND TASKFLOW_INST_ID='SITE'
AND SERVICE_ID='oracle.webcenter.peopleconnections.connections' AND SETTING_KEY='autoAcceptInvitations'
;

Save and run the script.

If your custom WebCenter application is running, restart the application.

After you restart, the setting takes effect. In this example, when a user invites another user to connect, the connection is created automatically.

Each People Connections task flow has a set of required and optional task flow binding parameters. These provide a means of capturing information that is useful to the task flow's successful function. For example, all People Connections task flows provide a binding parameter for capturing the ID of the current runtime user. This value (typically #{securityContext.userName}) enables the task flow to return People Connections data that is relevant to the current user.

In addition to providing required values for successful task flow rendering, you can use task flow binding parameters to customize the appearance and behavior of a task flow instance. For example, you can use parameter values to determine whether headers and footers are rendered, the number of rows and columns of information to show, whether to apply a filter to returned data, and the like.

This section describes how to revise task flow parameter values at design time and provides a table that lists and describes the binding parameters associated with People Connections task flows. It includes the following sections:

20.3.2.1 How to Revise People Connections Task Flow Binding Parameters

After you have added a task flow to a page, you may want to customize the instance by revising its binding parameter values. This section describes how to access the Edit Task Flow Binding dialog and change binding parameter values.

To access the Edit Task Flow Binding dialog:

Open the application page and set the view to bindings by clicking the Bindings tab at the bottom of the page.

Under Executables, double-click the task flow for which to revise task flow binding parameters (Figure 20-14) to open the Edit Task Flow Binding dialog (Figure 20-15).

Tip:

Task flow names under Executables differ from names in design view. For example, Message Board task flows are instead referred to as wall, and Feedback task flows are instead referred to as kudos.

For example, enter 5 to specify that a maximum of five connections can appear in the task flow. A More link appears at the bottom of the task flow when there are more connections than the specified number of connections. Users click More to open the main view of the task flow where all connections are show.

The value entered for this parameter is honored only when values for display_numberOfRows and display_numberOfColumns have not both been specified. If values for both of these parameters have been specified, then Previous and Next links appear when there are more connections than can fit into the specified numbers of rows and columns.

This parameter is associated with the following task flows:

Connections - Card

Connections - Quick View

display_numberOfColumns

The number of columns to show in the task flow

For example, in a Connections - Card task flow that shows six connections, a value of 2 means those connections are shown in two columns with three rows (see also display_numberOfRows and display_maxConnections).

This parameter is associated with the following task flows:

Connections - Card

Connections - Quick View

display_numberOfRows

The number of rows to show in the task flow

For example, in a Connections - Card task flow that shows six connections and a value of 2 for display_numberOfColumns, a value of 2 for this parameter means connections are shown in two columns with two rows. That is, four connections are shown. A More link appears at the bottom of the task flow when there are more connections than can be fit in the specified number of columns and rows. Users click More to open the main view of the task flow where all connections are shown.

list—Displays connections in a list that includes the personal profile photo, user name, information about recent profile updates, and quick access buttons for interacting with one's connections.

This parameter is associated with the task flow Connections - Card.

display_removalAllowed

A means of showing or hiding the Remove action on the task flow

Enter true to show the Remove action. Enter false to hide the Remove action. The default value (true) is applied if the input is invalid.

This parameter is associated with the task flow Connections - Card.

display_sortedBy

The connections sort order

Enter LAST_ACTIVITY_TIME to sort connections in descending date/time order. Leave this field blank to sort connections alphabetically by name.

This parameter is associated with the task flow Connections - Card.

displayCount

The number of items to show in the task flow

For example, enter 5 to specify that a maximum of five items can appear in the task flow. In quick views, a More link appears at the bottom of the task flow when there are more items than the specified number of items. Users click More to open the main view of the task flow where all items are accessible. In main views, Previous and Next links are shown. Users click these to page through entries.

This parameter appears in the component properties for the following task flows:

Feedback

Feedback - Quick View

Message Board

Message Board - Quick View

displayMessageSize

The number of characters to show for each feedback message

Messages exceeding the specified value are truncated, and an ellipse (…) is appended to the end.

This parameter is associated with the task flow Feedback - Quick View.

filterPattern

A filter against task flow content

For example, enter pat to show only those connections named pat (including patrick or sripathy).

A means of hiding the actions normally associated with a Feedback or Message Board entry, such as Edit, Private, Hide, and Delete

Enter #{true} to hide actions associated with a Feedback or Message Board entry.

Enter #{false} to show such actions. When no value is entered, false is the default.

This parameter appears in the component properties for the following task flows:

Feedback – Quick View

Message Board – Quick View

hideConfigure

A means of hiding the personalization option on the task flow instance

This parameter is associated with the following task flows:

Activity Stream

Activity Stream - Quick View

hideFooter

A means of showing or hiding the task flow footer

The task flow footer contains the More link that appears at the bottom of a task flow when there are more items to show than can be accommodated in the current view. Hiding the footer hides the More link. Hiding the footer does not affect Previous and Next links that may also appear at the bottom of a task flow.

Enter true to hide the footer. Enter false (default) to show the footer.

20.3.3.1 Activity Stream REST APIs

Use the Activity Stream REST APIs to browse user application activities in an activity stream. This section provides information about the REST APIs to use to perform this action. It contains the following subsections:

When user activities are retrieved through REST, all of the user's activities are returned. This may not resemble the activities returned through a WebCenter application UI. This is because the options for configuring which activities to return in the WebCenter application UI have no effect on the activities that REST retrieves.

20.3.3.1.1 Activity Stream Entry Point

Each REST service has a link element within the Resource Index that provides the entry point for that service. For the People Connections service, each feature has its own link element. For example, to find the entry point for the Activity Stream feature of the People Connections service, find the link elements with a resourceType of:

urn:oracle:webcenter:activities:stream

The corresponding href or template element provides the URI entry point, which retrieves application activities for the current user from the Activity Stream. The client sends HTTP requests to this entry point to work with the Activity Stream feature of the People Connections service.

20.3.3.1.2 Activity Stream Resource Type Taxonomy

When the client has identified the entry point, it can then navigate through the resource type taxonomy to perform the required operations. For more information about the individual resource types, see the appropriate section in Section 20.3.3.1.4, "Activity Stream Resource Types."

The resource type taxonomy for the Activity Stream feature of the People Connections service is:

The stream response contains URIs for use in retrieving activities from the Activity Stream.

You can retrieve the activities from a user's stream or activities from a user's connections' streams. To have even greater control over which activities to retrieve, use the activity stream query filter. With the query filter, you can:

Specify the user to query

Include the user's connections' activities in the results

Include activities from group spaces and/or personal spaces in the results

Restrict the results to activities from specific services

The options available to you depend on the path you take to get to the stream resource and the rel of the link that you use. For example, the activity stream query filter is available only from links with a rel attribute of urn:oracle:webcenter:activities:stream. If you access the activity stream query filter from the person resource, the personGuid parameter is prefilled.

Table 20-11 shows the activities returned depending on the rel element of the link.

connections—Includes activities from the streams of the specified user's connections. Valid values:true or false. Default value:false.

groupSpaces—Includes activities from all group spaces of which the specified user is a member. Valid values:true or false. Default value:false.

For example, the following URI returns activities from the current user's activity stream, for all services. It returns activities from the user's personal space and from the streams of the user's connections:

Note: This reference is not present for activities that did not happen in a group space (for example, activities that happened in a personal space). Also, creation of a group space happens in a personal space, so that activity does not have this element either.

message

String

Localized string for this activity

This may contain replacement strings within curly braces ({}).

permission

PRIVATE

SHARED

PUBLIC

Permission level of this activity

scope

String

Scope of the activity

This might return a group space, a personal space, and the like.

For example, for a group space, it returns a string similar to the following:

s8bba98ff_4cbb_40b8_beee_296c916a23ed

templateParams

Param

String replacement parameters for users and objects referenced in the message of this activity

Footnote 1 Data types, such as DATE and BOOLEAN, are stored in the API as STRING. The DATE data type returns a Java standard date format, for example, 2009-08-21T14:43:11.0013-0700, with 0700 representing the time zone.

20.3.3.2 Connections and Profile REST APIs

Use the Connections and Profile REST APIs to browse a profile or a connections list, manage connections lists, add or remove connections, send invitations to connect, and update a profile status message.

This section provides information about the REST APIs to use to perform these actions. It contains the following subsections:

20.3.3.2.1 Connections and Profile Entry Point

Each REST service has a link element within the Resource Index that provides the entry point for that service. For the People Connections service, each feature has its own link element. For example, to find the entry points for Connections and Profile features of the People Connections service, find the link elements with a resourceType of:

urn:oracle:webcenter:people (returns the current user profile)

urn:oracle:webcenter:people:person (enables you to query for a user)

urn:oracle:webcenter:people:invitations (returns invitations sent or received by the current user)

Note:

The people:person and people:invitations resource types have a template but not an href.

The corresponding href or template element provides the URI entry point, which returns a list of people (people) or an individual user (people:person). The client sends HTTP requests to this entry point to work with the Connections and Profile features of the People Connections service.

The elements present in a person response depend on how the user repository is configured and the elements it supports. Additionally, several of the pieces of data represented in Table 20-15, such as address, emails, photos, phoneNumbers, and organization, can have multiple instances.

The list response contains URIs for use in retrieving all the profiles on a connections list (GET), inviting a user to be a connection or adding a connection to a connections list (POST), and removing a connections list (DELETE).

Navigation Paths to list

This section shows how the client can navigate through the hypermedia to access the list resource:

Footnote 1 selfrel currently includes "urn:oracle:webcenter:people:person:list:list" instead of the correct "urn:oracle:webcenter:people:person:list". For the @connections default list, it currently includes "urn:oracle:webcenter:people:person:list:connections".

urn:oracle:webcenter:people:person:listNames

The listNames response contains URIs for use in retrieving the names of existing connections lists (GET) and to creating connections lists (POST).

Navigation Paths to listNames

This section shows how the client can navigate through the hypermedia to access the listNames resource:

resourceIndex
person
listNames

Supported Methods for listNames

The following methods are supported by the listNames resource:

GET

request

response: Body: 0 or more listName items

Note:

@connections is a user's default connections. It behaves like a connections list, but it is not included in the results of listNames.

The member response contains URIs for use in deleting a connection from a connections list or removing a connection from the default connections list.

Navigation Paths to member

This section shows how the client can navigate through the hypermedia to access the member resource:

resourceIndex
person
list
member

Supported Methods for member

The following method is supported by the member resource:

DELETE

request

Writable Elements for member

Table 20-21 lists the writable elements for the member resource. Writable elements for member are used when you add a connection to a list or invite a user to be a connection. The member resource itself is for deleting connections, and does not use writable elements.

Table 20-21 Writable Elements for member

Element

Type

Required

Constraints

Description

guid

String

Yes

1 or more characters

GUID of the user

message

String

No

0 or more characters

Invitation message

Use this only when inviting users to be connections (that is POSTing to the @connections list, not to user-created connections lists).

urn:oracle:webcenter:people:person:status

The status response contains URIs for use in retrieving (GET) and updating (PUT) the profile status message of a specified user.

Navigation Paths to status

This section shows how the client can navigate through the hypermedia to access the status resource:

Table 20-23 lists the resource types that the client can link to from the status resource.

Table 20-23 Related Resource Types for status

rel

resourceType

self

urn:oracle:webcenter:people:person:status

urn:oracle:webcenter:people:invitations

The invitations response contains URIs for use in retrieving invitations (GET). You can also send an invitation (POST) to another user.

Navigation Paths to invitations

This section shows how the client can navigate through the hypermedia to access the invitations resource:

resourceIndex
invitations

If you are not already connected to a user, you can also navigate to the invitations resource from that user's profile in order to invite them to connect.

resourceIndex
person
invitations

Supported Methods for invitations

The following methods are supported by the invitations resource:

GET

Request—Parameters:q

To retrieve invitations sent to the current user, the format of q is:

q=[invitee:equals:@me]

To retrieve invitations sent from the current user, the format of q is:

q=[invitor:equals:@me]

Response—Body: 1 or more invitations

POST

Request—Body:invitation

Response—Body:invitation

Note:

The methods supported depend on the path taken to get to the resource. For example, the POST method is supported only by the link from the person resource. Check the capabilities of the link to understand exactly which methods are supported.

20.3.3.3.1 Feedback Entry Point

Each REST service has a link element within the Resource Index that provides the entry point for that service. For the People Connections service, each feature has its own link element. To find the entry points for the Feedback feature of the People Connections service, find the link elements with a resourceType of:

urn:oracle:webcenter:feedback

The corresponding href or template element provides the URI entry point, which returns all received feedback for the current user. The client sends HTTP requests to this entry point to work with the Feedback feature of the People Connections service.

20.3.3.3.2 Feedback Resource Type Taxonomy

When the client has identified the entry point, it can then navigate through the resource type taxonomy to perform the required operations. For more information about the individual resource types, see the appropriate section in Section 20.3.3.3.4, "Feedback Resource Types."

the resource type taxonomy for the Feedback feature of the People Connections service is:

urn:oracle:webcenter:feedback
urn:oracle:webcenter:feedback:message

20.3.3.3.3 Feedback Security Considerations

You must be logged in to the REST service to access any of the People Connections REST APIs. After that, the underlying service handles permission checking and the like.

The message response contains the feedback message data and URIs for use in deleting a Feedback message.

Navigation Paths to message

This section shows how the client can navigate through the hypermedia to access the message resource:

resourceIndex
feedback
message

resourceIndex
person
feedback
message

Supported Methods from message

The following method is supported by the message resource:

DELETE

request

Note:

Currently, the DELETE method for the urn:oracle:webcenter:feedback:message resource type is nonfunctional. The message is not deleted, even though the REST client receives an HTTP success status of 204.

20.3.3.4.1 Message Board Entry Point

Each REST service has a link element within the Resource Index that provides the entry point for that service. For the People Connections service, each feature has its own link element. To find the entry points for the Message Board feature of the People Connections service, find the link elements with a resourceType of:

urn:oracle:webcenter:messageBoard

Note:

As well as an entry point from the Resource Index, to navigate to an individual user's message board, the Message Board feature also has an entry point from a group space response for the group space's message board.

The corresponding href or template element provides the URI entry point, which returns the Message Board for the current user. The client sends HTTP requests to this entry point to work with the Message Board feature of the People Connections service.

20.3.3.4.2 Message Board Resource Type Taxonomy

When the client has identified the entry point, it can then navigate through the resource type taxonomy to perform the required operations. For more information about the individual resource types, see the appropriate section in Section 20.3.3.4.4, "Message Board Resource Types."

the resource type taxonomy for the Message Board feature of the People Connections service is:

Footnote 1 Data types, such as DATE and BOOLEAN, are stored in the API as STRING.

Resource Types Linked to from message

Table 20-35 lists the resource types that the client can link to from the message resource.

Table 20-35 Related Resource Types for message

rel

resourceType

self

urn:oracle:webcenter:messageBoard:message

20.4 Troubleshooting the People Connections Service

This section provides information to assist you in troubleshooting problems you may encounter while using the People Connections service.

People Connections task flows take up the full browser, even when empty

This problem may arise if you are using Internet Explorer, version 8 (IE8). In IE8, go to Tools, Compatibility View Settings. In the Compatibility View Settings dialog, clear the following check boxes:

Display intranet sites in Compatibility View

Display all websites in Compatibility View

New Profile Image is Not Shown

Changes to a Profile image may not be rendered immediately due to a stale WebCenter Database cache. Clicking the Refresh icon under the stale image will cause the image to update.